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By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

LOUDON, N.H. --- Kyle Busch, the last of 44 drivers who made a qualifying attempt for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301, wound up winning the pole position Friday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Busch captured his first pole of the season and ninth overall of his career with a fast lap of 28.548 seconds (133.417 miles per hour) in the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.

"Definitely a great day for us,'' said Busch. ``We unloaded with a really fast race car right off the truck with [crew chief] Dave [Rogers] and the guys re-working everything over the winter trying to come up with a new package for here.

"We haven't had quite something that works for us, but this time around it was really good,'' said Busch, who was fastest in practice in 28.555 seconds (133.385 m.p.h.) ``Excellent lap just trying to hit the same marks I did in practice and back up that time. It would've put us second quick, I think , but we picked up just a little bit here and a little there and we were able to have the fastest lap.''

Busch knocked Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne off the pole after Kahne recorded a fast lap of 28.551 seconds, bettering the lap of Busch's JGR teammate Denny Hamlin by one-thousandth of a second (28.552).

Kahne will start on the outside pole while Hamlin will start third in the 43-car grid.

"Kyle will always be the fastest member at Joe Gibbs Racing when it comes to being able to get the most out of his race car, one lap, pure speed,'' Hamlin said. "For me to be remotely in the same area code as him says something good about me, but I'm happy just to be able to see him at the start.''

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